Turning Red tells the story of Mei Lee, a confident, dorky thirteen-year-old torn between staying her mother's dutiful daughter and the chaos of adolescence. And as if changes to her interests, relationships, and body weren't enough, whenever she gets too excited (which for a teenager is practically always), she "poofs" into a giant red panda!
The movie arrives on Disney+ today, and last week, ComicBookMovie.com was on hand for the global press conference. The filmmakers and cast assembled to share some insights into making Pixar's latest movie, and trust us when we say Turning Red is not an adventure you want to miss; in fact, we'd posit that it's one of the studio's best stories yet.
A big part of that is down to how unique the visuals are, and there's a clear anime influence that helps ensure many scenes jump off the screen in a way that will stick with you long after the credits roll.
Director Domee Shi was asked about incorporating anime into the movie, and explained that "the crew were so excited and so on board with trying this East-meets-West anime/Pixar hybrid style to tell this story." She adds, "Everyone was so eager to jump in and learn about anime. Not everybody on the crew knew what the Sailor Moon eyes were or why she was leaking sweat when she was trying to hide her sketchbook from her mom."
"It was just fun to be able to teach the crew and give them a crash course on all of this stuff that I grew up loving," Shi continued, "and was so inspired and influenced by."
Later, star Rosalie Chiang would share her memories of joining the Turning Red cast as lead character Mei, and the unique journey that experience took her on. Explaining that she was 12 when the project first landed on her radar, Chiang revealed that Pixar needed a voice to start testing animation against, but quickly realised that didn't necessarily mean she'd officially landed the role (especially as the story was only really beginning to take shape at that point).
"Two years later, at the end of one of my recording sessions, Domee brought in this documentary camera. She's like, 'Oh, we're just gonna do a few behind-the-scenes things,' and I'm like, 'Oh, okay. That's fine.' Then they gave me a script, and I thought, 'Why didn't you give me this to, like, practice? Come on.' But then we did it, we went through it, and at the end, that's when Domee said, 'We love your voice. Can you please be Mei?' And I said, 'Of course' [Laughs]."
"I just remember being in shock," the actress continued. "I think at that point, I just thought I'm just gonna do my best. I'm not gonna focus on booking or not booking it. And I froze. I didn't know whether to cry or not. I was just so thankful."
Turning Red is now streaming on Disney+! Check out the trailer below: